


A Favour Repaid

by BirdAndTheCage



Series: Reader And The Chocobros [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chocobos, Chocobros - Freeform, Friendship, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns For Reader, Gender-neutral Reader, The ideas for this universe just keep on comming, so I'm gonna keep wiritng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-20 19:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9509021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdAndTheCage/pseuds/BirdAndTheCage
Summary: In which the Chocobros help you with a hunt. What happens next… doesn’t really surprise you at all but gotdamn is it heartwarming. A direct sequel toA Helping Hand.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so halfway through [A Helping Hand](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8899933) I got this idea. This is a direct sequel to A Helping Hand, so it's suggested that you read that first. 
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely [Ryzi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryzi).
> 
> Quick Edit: Fixed some spacing issues.

You were having kind of a shitty day. 

First, you got caught out in the rain at night during a hunt. Since visibility was shit, you ended up taking more hits than you had counted on, so you had used the last of your curatives. Since you had used the last of your curatives, you had to limp back to the ranch, praying that you didn’t run into any deamons along the way. Of course, you ran into a goddamn Iron Giant on the way back to the ranch. Mustering what strength you had left, you ran like hell. You wanted to live to see the morning, thank you very much. 

Then, it turned out someone else had snagged the caravan. With a groan you crawled into your car and slept there for the night. You didn’t care that you were getting your interior wet — honestly it had seen its fair share of… messes — you were just glad that you had a dry place to sleep. 

Of course, the next day Wiz informed you that a new beast had made its home nearby and its scent was making the birds nervous. There had already been a few accidents. You, being the resident hunter of the ranch, snagged the bounty from Wiz in a heartbeat. You stocked up on curatives with the money from your last bounty and grabbed a bite to eat before heading out. You figured that you had enough ammo to take whatever it was down, so guns in tow you headed out.

You thought it would be easy. 

You were so, so wrong. 

The beast was huge. And strong. And  _ fuck _ did that tail  _ hurt _ . 

You popped your second-to-last elixir and lined up a shot. You had been shooting the beast non-stop, but bullets only did so much against its thick hide. The behemoth whipped its head to stare you down with an eye.

You took the shot.

An ungodly roar filled the air as your bullet struck true, gouging the behemoth’s right eye. Partially blinded by your shot and fully blinded by pain, it began to run wildly. It’s tail collided with you again, at full frenzied force, and you flew backwards. You hit against the stone of what had become this thing’s den and you made a choked sound of pain. Dazed, you could only watch as the behemoth slammed its head into the wall on the opposite side of the den by accident, causing its horn to shatter off and fall. 

Taking the opportunity, you popped your last elixir and quietly went back the way you came, the roars of the behemoth you partially blinded trailing behind you. 

“Well, it’s not dead, but it  _ is _ now blind in one eye,” was the first thing you said to Wiz once you returned to the ranch. You told the man what happened, and that you hated to admit it but you would need the help of at least one other hunter for this job.

Just then, the final elixir wore off and you felt pain blossom in your chest.

“Crap,” you mumbled as you gently prodded your ribs, wincing as you did so. “Wiz, I think that that fucker fractured my ribs with its tail.”

Wiz gave you a pointed look. “You’re gonna wait for those to heal before you go after it again, y’hear?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” you mumbled. “Looks like it’s a light workload for me around here, huh?”

You drove out to a doctor in Lestallum the next day and he verified that your ribs were indeed fractured. After being chided by the doctor for being so reckless as to take on a behemoth alone, you left the office, prescription for painkillers in hand. You stopped by the pharmacy that was close by and, after some waiting, got the prescription filled. You also picked up a few things that you needed while you were there. Then you drove back to Wiz’s.

The six weeks passed slowly.

Wiz had you on the lightest workload possible, which meant reception duty. Reception duty meant sitting inside and doing absolutely nothing because chocobo rentals were suspended. All because you didn’t kill the behemoth.

Yes, the weeks passed slowly, but at least they passed.

After the six weeks were up, Wiz urged you to go back to the doctor to ensure that you had made a full recovery, so back to Lestallum you went. After some poking and prodding, you were given a clean bill of health. The doctor warned you to be more careful with a weary sigh. You guessed that he treated a lot of hunters.

The drive back to Wiz’s, you rolled down your windows and set to thinking about who you could contact to help you out with the creature that Wiz had taken to calling “Deadeye.” There was always Dave, but he was a busy man and hard to pin down. In fact, most hunters were that way, always moving and never staying in one place for long. With a sigh, you placed all thoughts of Deadeye aside and focused on the road.

As soon as you were parked at the ranch, you hopped out of your car and walked over to Wiz.

“Doc gave me a clean bill of health,” you smiled.

“Good. We have stalls that need mucking,” was the response you received.

You groaned and rolled your eyes, but it was all for show. You had been dying to be off reception duty. You took off your jacket, leaving you in a work t-shirt and some shorts, and got to work mucking out the stalls.

At about midday, you heard someone call your name.

“Kinda busy!” you shouted back as you spread the hay down on the freshly mucked stall. Then you looked up to see who it was.

“Hey guys! Decided to swing by after all?” you smiled and wiped the sweat off of your forehead, messing up your bangs in the process.

“Something like that,” Noctis shrugged, glancing over at Prompto who was staring at the chocobos in awe.

“Can I ride one?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Unfortunately, rentals are closed on account of a beast scaring our chocobos,” Wiz said as he walked over. “There’s a bounty on its head.”

“We’ll take the hunt!” Prompto exclaimed.

Ignis cleared his throat.

“Uuuuuuh, if that’s okay with Noct,” the blond amended.

“So you four are the newbie hunters I’ve heard about. Of course you are,” you scoffed and rolled your eyes.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Gladio asked with a smile as he crossed his arms.

“I think you know exactly what that’s supposed to mean,” you laughed, keeping your words intentionally vague. You didn’t want to out Noctis as the prince. “Anyway, I’ve been looking for someone to help me with that hunt. It’s definitely not a one-person job.” You walked over to lean against the railing of the pen. “So what do you say?”

“Sounds good to me,” Noctis said.

You brushed your hand off on your shirt before extending it outwards. Noctis shook your hand firmly. You were a bit surprised, given his attitude and overall demeanor, but supposed that he had most likely grown up with etiquette lessons as he would be the king one day.

“Then we have an accord,” Ignis nodded as the handshake ended.

“Please, you just don’t wanna owe me anything anymore,” you laughed.

“They’ve got ya there, Specs,” Gladio said, nudging the other man with his elbow

Ignis sighed and pushed his glasses up, but you thought you saw a hint of a smile on his lips. It was hard to tell with him though. 

“Let me finish mucking and we can go,” you said as you exited the pen, locking the gate behind you, and entering the next. You only had a few pens to go, but it would still be tedious work. 

“Would you like assistance?” Ignis asked. 

“Naw,” you shook your head as you led the Chocobo out of the pen and secured it to a nearby railing. “I doubt you guys know how to muck, and I'm not really in a teaching mood today.”

Mucking the last few stalls didn’t seem to take as long with the company of the guys — even if they weren’t helping.

“Well, I’d say that we still have at least a few hours of sun left,” you said as you brushed your hands off, having led the last chocobo back into its stall. “Let me get my gear and maybe change real quick before we head out.” You doubted that the guys wanted to travel with someone who smelled like they’d been pitchforking poop all day long.

You grabbed some of your more durable clothes from your car — ones reserved for hunts — and hurried into the ranch house that doubled as the shop. Wiz didn’t mind if you snagged the upstairs bathroom on occasion, as long as you didn’t make his water bill skyrocket. You took the quickest shower of your life and left your hair to air-dry after attacking it with a towel. You tugged on your clothes and trotted out of the door next to the shop. You went to your car and grabbed your gear — two pistols, holsters, and extra magazines — from your car. You strapped the holders over your jean-clad thighs before holstering your guns. You shoved the extra magazines in your back pockets. 

“You guys ready to go?” You asked. They didn’t look ready to you, having no weapons on their persons.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Prompto exclaimed. He clambered down from his perch on one of the railings of one of the stalls. 

“Uuuuuuh… You guys sure you’re ready?” you couldn’t help but ask.

In a blue flash, weapons appeared in the hands of Noctis, Prompto and Gladio. Noctis wielded a sword that had gears on it — a bit of an odd thing to your eye. Gladio had a huge greatsword casually slung over his shoulder. Prompto had a pistol that he was twirling around his finger without a care. 

You gave an expectant look to Ignis, wanting to see what type of weapons he preferred. With a sigh, blue flashed in both of his hands. When the light faded, you saw twin daggers held firmly in his gloved hands.

“No weapons near the birds!” Wiz yelled. You supposed he was going for some kind of threatening tone, but it just came out as exasperated. Poor guy dealt with a lot. In that same blue flash, all of the guy’s weapons disappeared. 

“Holy shit! That’s so cool!” you couldn’t help but exclaim. “How do you do that?”

Noctis shrugged. “Magicians and secrets,” he said. With a straight face. 

_ How is this guy — no, this absolute dork — a prince again?  _ You thought.

“Alright then, Mr. Magician, shall I lead the way?” you asked, barely concealing your laughter. 

“Please, after you,” he replied. His lips twitched into an almost smile before his face went straight again. 

“Dun-da-da! Time to save the chocobos!” Prompto cheered.

You shared a look with Gladio as the blond ran ahead. Aforementioned blond came trotting back soon after, face tinged red with embarrassment. “Yeah, maybe you should lead.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. 

“This way,” you waved to the guys to follow you as you started off in the direction of Deadeye’s den. You started to explain what happened last time you went to fight the behemoth, but you were cut off by a loud growl. 

“The hell?” Gladio asked.

“Something’s amiss,” Ignis said as two trees in the distance fell and the growl continued. 

“That’s ol’ Deadeye, for sure,” you sighed. 

The five of you rounded the bend in the path. 

“Well. This wasn’t like this the last time I was out this way…” you trailed off, taking in the broken trees everywhere.

“At least it leaves an easy path to follow,” Noctis said.

As if on cue, more trees fell in the distance.  

“Good for us, bad for the forest,” Gladio shook his head. 

As you rounded a corner into a small clearing, a pack of Voretooths rushed at the five of you. You stood back with Prompto and unholstered one of your pistols as the others went in with their melee weapons.

“Y’know,” Prompto started casually, as if the two of you weren’t laying down covering fire whenever an opening presented itself, “I am not into wildlife. More of a pet guy.” 

You opened your mouth to express some kind of disbelief at his calm manner, but Gladio beat you to the punch.

“Stop bitching, start killing.” 

You couldn’t hold back the snort of laughter as you dodged a Voretooth that had been charging at the two of you. The beast turned around and you shot it in the head. It dropped. 

The battle was over pretty quickly. The five of you came out of it with some minor scrapes and bruises. Nothing that a potion couldn’t fix, but that would be for later. Right now, you had a hunt to complete. 

You led the guys to the small opening that you had discovered the last time you were here. The five of you hunkered down in order to fit, with you in the lead. Gladio followed closely behind you, his way of keeping Noctis safe, you supposed. 

You could see Deadeye through the gaps of the ceiling, lumbering over to feed on… something. You really hoped it wasn’t a chocobo. You moved as quietly as possible, praying that the behemoth was too busy eating to smell any of you. 

You ducked under a piece of sheet metal serving as the roof of the path just as Deadeye finished eating. Gladio swore under his breath, being caught in the opening, and dove to join you under the shoddy cover. The rest of the guys stayed back under a piece of sheet metal of their own. You guessed that Deadeye had smelled you. He poked his huge snout into the opening and  _ roared. _ The sound made your ears ring and head pound long after it was finished. Luckily, Deadeye seemed to lose interest and removed his snout. He snuffed one more time before lumbering away, shaking the ground as he did so. 

“By the Six…” Ignis murmured. 

You looked over to see that the three of them were still huddled closely together, Prompto clinging to Noctis’ arm with wide eyes.

“Well, let’s get moving. Sun’ll be setting soon.” Gladio said, giving you a pointed look. 

You had no clue what that was about, until you looked down to see that you had a death grip on his bicep. You could feel your face heat up from embarrassment. You mumbled out an apology and removed your hand, frowning at the loss of warmth. 

You let the guys into the alcove of stone that was Deadeye’s den. It was just as you remembered it, a hollowed out shell of a large building surrounded by rocks, but something was different. Barrels were placed throughout the area.

“Hmm,” Ignis hummed. “These seem to be explosives of some nature.” 

“That’s useful and all,” you said, “But I don’t know how we’re going to blow them up.”

“I can think of a few ways,” you heard Noctis say. You turned to see that there was a small lick of flame chilling out in his outstretched hand. You were baffled initially, but then realized that of course the Prince knew magic. It was probably a part of his studies. It was still pretty cool though, especially because you had never seen magic up-close. 

The five of you proceeded cautiously to where you had fought deadeye before. He appeared on a ledge overlooking the den and leaped down, right behind a barrel. Noctis lobbed a ball of fire at the barrel. Deadeye roared in pain as the fire licked his tough hide.

The fight was on.

You and Prompto laid down a covering hail of lead while the other three hacked and slashed at deadeye’s legs. You winced when Ignis was grazed with one of the spikes from Deadeye’s tail. You ran over with a potion and shoved it into his gloved hand. 

“Thank you.”

“No probl - DUCK!” you grabbed Ignis by his shoulders and flung him to the ground. You dropped a second after, narrowly avoiding being slammed by Deadeye’s tail again. 

“You good?” you asked as you started shooting again from your crouched position. 

“Yes, thanks to your quick thinking and action. But, I am afraid that the worst is not over yet.” Ignis said. 

Another explosion rocked the ground, and Deadeye howled in pain. The two of you stood and got back to work. Prompto was now in the fray, fighting with something that had a saw on one end and something that spit out concussive blasts from the other. Therefore, it was up to you to keep the covering fire going. 

Deadeye leaped to stand over another barrel closer to you and Noctis lit it up. Another explosion, this one blew your bangs back from how close you were. Deadeye roared angrily and tried to snap at you. You rolled out of the way and came up into a crouch. 

The fight was grueling, but between the five of you it took less time than you expected. Deadeye dropped. The five of you let out a cheer. 

Prompto wrapped you up in an excited hug and spun you around. You laughed in delight, surprised at the sudden action. “We saved the chocobos!” he cheered.

“Yeah, we sure did,” you smiled as he let you go. 

“Waddaya think Iggy? Could make a lot of food with this guy.” Gladio’s voice carried across the den. 

You watched as Ignis summoned a wicked looking kitchen knife and began carving into the fallen behemoth. He seemed to know what he was doing, so you left him to it. 

You wandered around the den with Prompto by your side. The two of you weren’t talking about anything important, mostly chocobo-related stuff. The man was like a sponge when it came to information about the beloved birds. You were just getting to the intricacies of grooming when you stumbled over something. It was the part of Deadeye’s horn that he had managed to break off during your first encounter. You crouched down and lifted it up. It was heavy, sure, but you liked to take prizes from hunts. Sure the horn was all but useless, but you figured that you’d be able to sell it somewhere for a few Gil. 

“Ready to go, you two?” Noctis yelled.

“Be there in a jiffy!” Prompto yelled back. 

And then the five of you started the journey back.

When the five of you returned to the ranch, horn in your hands and meat in Gladio’s, Wiz was beaming. “I’m guessin’ that we don’t have to worry about any more scared chocobos?”

“No. Well, unless if you count Prom trying to cuddle them,” Gladio snickered.

“Chocobos love me,” Prompto said as he walked over to the pen of one of the ranch’s most temperamental birds. To your complete and utter surprise, the chocobo ran right over to Prompto, chirruping happily. “See?”

“Well I’ll be damned,” Wiz chuckled. “You sure you don’t wanna work here, boy?” 

“What, you just giving my job away now? I see how it is.” You huffed the words dramatically, fighting back laughter all the while. 

“Nope, I’m releasin’ ya into the big ol’ world,” Wiz said. 

“So that’s what they call getting fired,” Noctis said.

“Hey! Rude!” you laughed.

“Can I ride this one?” Prompto asked, oblivious to anything but the chocobo. 

You looked at Wiz. The man just sighed. “If he’s taken a liking to you that much, then he’s yours. For a price of course.” 

“Please Noctis? Can we all get chocobos? Pleeeeeeeease?” Prompto hopped down from the fence and literally started begging on his knees.

You blinked in disbelief.  _ This guy  _ really _ loves chocobos.  _

“Well, we’ll need to do a few more hunts to be able to afford them,” Noctis shrugged.

“It’s not a no!” Prompto cheered before standing up and turning to you. “What’s his name?”

“Dick. On account of him being one. But you can call him whatever you like,” you smiled. 

“Monsieur Fluffybutt it is!” Prompto nodded decisively, a huge smile on his face. Dick — uh,  _ Monsieur Fluffybutt  _ — chirped at the name. 

“May as well pick out your chocobos boys,” you sighed. “We’ll take good care of them until they’re yours.” 

As you watched the guys pick out chocobos, you realized something. You didn’t want to live the solitary life of a hunter anymore. You wanted friends that you could banter with and fight along side. You didn’t want to be another pair of dog tags in Dave’s hands. But mostly, you realized that you wanted to see more of these four. 

You really hoped that you would. 


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the guys return to the ranch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this sooner, I swear, but life got a bit busy. 
> 
> As always, Beta'd by the lovely and loving [Ryzi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryzi)

The day that the guys came by to pick up and pay for their chocobos, you had been listlessly riding around the racing track. Ever since your realization that day, you had fallen into a slump. You were sure that Wiz had noticed, but he didn’t say a thing to you. You just felt his sad gaze on you as you dispassionately tended to the birds and came back from hunts only to shut yourself in the caravan for days at a time. 

You heard them before you saw them. And by “heard them” you meant “heard Prompto screeching about Chocobos at the top of his lungs, and also calling your name.” 

You dug your heels into your Chocobo and finished the lap, bringing you back to the racing entrance. 

“Wow! Your chocobo is fast!” Prompto said as you dismounted cleanly. “What’s their name?”

“This,” you sighed, motioning to the white chocobo beside you, “is Croud.”

“Croud?” Gladio asked.

“Yes,” you sighed, yet again, before launching into your explanation. “Y’see, when Wiz first found her, she was all matted down with dirt and who know what, so it was hard to actually see her coloration. I was the lucky one who got to bathe her — for half an hour mind you. Once she was all clean, I tried to name her “Cloud” because she looked so much like one — all white and fluffy and shit…” you trailed off with a third sigh.

“So, you flubbed?” Prompto asked as he gently pet one of the chocobo chicks nearby.

“Oh yeah. The thing is, she won’t respond to anything else. And believe me, I’ve tried plenty of times and plenty of ways to get her to respond to “Cloud”.” 

Croud gave a small squawk and headbutted you gently. 

“But I love her anyway.”

“That’s adorable,” Gladio chuckled. 

“It is quite heartwarming, in its own way,” Ignis agreed.

“Ah, shut up,” you waved their comments off. “So do you all know how to ride chocobos? Properly?” you asked, shooting a look at the ever-overeager Prompto. 

Your question was met with a beat of silence. 

“We learned when we were younger, but we’re pretty out of practice,” Noctis said, scratching the back of his head.

You let out a sigh. This was going to be an adventure.

“Well, no time like the present,” you shrugged. 

“Wahoo!” Prompto cheered, punching the air with a fist. 

You laughed and mounted Croud with practiced ease, feeling a lightness in your chest that you had been missing. You knew that they would leave eventually, but for now you could revel in their companionship. 

Still, your hunter’s tags hung heavily around your neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I shamelessly named Croud after the chocobo that Noctis has in Cry's run through of the game.  
> Make sure to subscribe to the series, because I have another two-shot in the works, and vague plans for an actual longfic.  
> You can find my writing blog (where I will eventually post updates about my FFXV fics as well as my other fics) [here](http://arbitrary-tangents.tumblr.com/) and you can find my personal blog (where my garbage lives) [here.](http://anything--but--average.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there's anything that Ryzi or I didn't catch while editing! Please also let me know if everyone's in character.
> 
> If you like, you can follow my trash heap of a personal blog or the near-ghost town that is my writing blog. Feel free to ask me any questions that you may have, and keep a look out for the Epilogue!


End file.
